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I played Gemstone for years and years while on the side playing and running various SMAUG and later SWR muds. So much creativity and freedom came out of those, It will be a long time before any MMO will have the means to do so much in a single game.

Unfortunatly ive been so spoiled on graphics that its hard to go back to text.

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Any good mud recommendations for today? I was going to try to get into Achaea but am severely turned off by any kind of pay to win model or macro based combat. I do not want to have to resort to third party programs to be worthwhile in PVP and I don't want to play a game that has a cash shop like that.

My biggest other requirements are that the game have enough of a population to make it worth playing, that the game is still being supported by the developers (ie not abandoneware) and new content created, the game world is gigantic, a smaller sub fee is fine, character progression is very complex, and combat designed in a way to require skill and tactics by the player (simplistic combat is boring to me).

Some minor sandbox elements such as good crafting, being able to build my own house and the items to go inside it and form communities with other players would also be a bonus. Last, good PVE would be nice too. Am I asking for too much here?

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Great article, Cassandra. Count me among those surprised that GS and DR didn't get a mention since both games still have very active, strong communities, but we'll cross our fingers and hope we make it into your final cut for reviews in your follow-up. Even if they don't make the list, feel free to contact me and I'll get you set up with a press account and arrange to have a player Mentor available to show you around and get you acclimated to Elanthia.

Great to see all the mentions from old DR and GS players in the comments! We'd love to have any of you come back for a visit and see what all is new!

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nice article! Achaea is a really fun text game / MUD, you can tailor your own custom clothes and sell them on the market channel. lots of plants to harvest and make potions if you are one of the forestal classes (Druid, Sentinel, Sylvan).

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I actually still play Achaea on several characters. While the "cash shop" is not a REQUIRED thing to enjoy yourself there, it does have a number of neat things that aren't combat oriented that just enchance the game like a flower pot that makes flowers every hour, or a pack that never decays and holds twice the content as a normal pack. I won't deny that the artefacts that increase combat prowess certainly help, but I have proven on multiple characters that to be "worthwhile" at PVP, you don't have to have them.

As for Jimmac's post about having to use a third party program to be worthwhile in PVP, that's entirely false. IRE currently offers two web based clients, Nexus (Java), and a Flash client. Both allow a lot of the same functions as any third party client. Most of the advanced users utilize the third party programs simply because they wish for more features. Many of IRE's players still use Nexus and Flash to play.

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In fact, anyone posting here that has been away from GemStone or DragonRealms for more than a year and wants to come back for a peek around, drop me a note and we'll get your account reactivated for a couple weeks or so on the house. :)

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GS probably didnt get a mention due to the ridiculous pricing scheme. Subscription for just a single character is more/equal then most Graphic MMOs out there with millions of players, throw in an extra 25 dollars a month to have more then one character..oh dont forget about the wonderful pricing plan of 80.00+ a month for platinum. Its been a while since Ive been back to the website but im sure the above pricing hasnt changed much. Seems a bit expensive for a text based game these days.

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Originally posted by Trasiva

I actually still play Achaea on several characters. While the "cash shop" is not a REQUIRED thing to enjoy yourself there, it does have a number of neat things that aren't combat oriented that just enchance the game like a flower pot that makes flowers every hour, or a pack that never decays and holds twice the content as a normal pack. I won't deny that the artefacts that increase combat prowess certainly help, but I have proven on multiple characters that to be "worthwhile" at PVP, you don't have to have them.

As for Jimmac's post about having to use a third party program to be worthwhile in PVP, that's entirely false. IRE currently offers two web based clients, Nexus (Java), and a Flash client. Both allow a lot of the same functions as any third party client. Most of the advanced users utilize the third party programs simply because they wish for more features. Many of IRE's players still use Nexus and Flash to play.

I have a bunch of cash shop items on my Achaea character and I am pretty sucky at PvP. Have been too lazy to learn all my classes strategies. You can't just buy cash shop items and suddenly lolpwn everyone at PvP, you have to know how to use your skills. Its something I really love and really hate about Achaea, because I can't go lolpwn people with all my cash shop items but I know nobody can do the same to me.

I learned how to PvP on the early Java client and then Zmud 5.1 and I kind of miss those days but back then affliction classes owned everyone hard. I think the people who make combat systems just need to agree not to make them work so good to the point that they effectively nerf classes who rely on curses and afflictions.

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I played Gemstone 3 on GEnie around 1992-2000 then went with a bunch of players off to EQ, oddly enough as a character named Aluvius hehe. A year or so ago I felt the urge to open up my account and have played a bit there off and on since.

I would kill to have a graphical version of Gemstone to play lol. Or at least have the essential gameplay elements that games of that era embodied.

Permanent choices. Permadeath (which was something you could do but had to work at it in Gemstone). Low magic worlds, so that items of any power really stood out. Sandbox mechanics mixed with live themepark events.

As for modern Gemstone IV, I'd recommend to anyone trying it now to look into a program called Lich. It automates many of the tedious tasks of a MUD, such as travel, inventory, spell ups, selling loot, etc. Its made by outside players so its not an "officially" supported but I'd guess around half of the surviving playerbase uses it now.

And as for pricing, the person upthread was waaay off base. Its something like $15 for a basic plan, extra character slots are only $2.50, premium pricing is $40 and platinum pricing is $50 (which gives you access to 2 extra game servers, Platinum and Shattered), Shattered is $5 more although its included free with platinum. Both premium and platinum pricing give you around 15 character slosts or so. The Platinum server is for serious roleplaying and the Shattered server is for unrestricted auto scripting play and I guess PvP free for all.

There is alot of GM interaction in the form of quests, merchants, raffles, etc so that's what you're paying for, not server rental.

Anyway, its a fun game. I've heard people also like Dragonrealms which uses a more modern engine than Gemstone. I'm not sure MUD's are for anyone under the age of 30 but if you ever wanted to try one then I'd recommend Gemstone IV. :)

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My thing with IRE games (Achaea and all) isn't that you need a third party software, to run the game. You need to know how to effectively use triggers, aliases, macros, etc in order to at least try to defend yourself from PVP minded people and ususally during PVE as well.

I haven't played Achara (I don't think I'm even spelling it correctly!) in years, but I have played Lusternia for a while. I own a ton of the non combat related cash shop items, as well as a manse (player housing). The game is fun, but I just had enough with the above and PVP for no (usually) no reason.

Hey, I'm doing another DR trial! I'll send Simu my info, I'd love my old account back for a while. ) Also, consider a price reduction!! You would be way more popular if you did so!

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one thing I loved in my days of Zmud when I just would go through the page(anyone remember the website that listed all those MUDs you could connect to on Zmud) and play random ones every week. I loved the ones that had the reincarnation classes where you would start over from level 1 as a new class couple of them were angels and devils with all new skills and better stats and such.. some of them had several tiers of reincarnation and made the game a lot of fun.. i miss those.. anyone know any of those still around?

I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg

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I started out playing muds when I was 11 or so in a little Diku-rom mud because my older brother and sister were playing and I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. That mud died many years ago, but now I play Achaea and I still have a play-to-win mentality, with a pretty huge playerbase for a MUD.

I started playing WoW when I was 15 or 16 and the biggest thing I liked about it was eseing my character. I got sucked into the endgame raiding when I was 17 or so and the biggest reason for that was the community. I have never stopped playing Achaea though, I've always been playing.

Now I play TOR and Achaea at the same time. Best thing about TOR is the story and playing with friends, best thing about Achaea is consistency (it doesn't change from what I like) and the fact that it is more enjoyable if you make it more enjoyable for yourself. It's one of those things that evolves with you. :)

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I love MUDs much more than the eye-candy of WoW or EQ. My current addiction is Achaea, a game from Iron Realms Entertainment. Their "elves" are called Tsol'aa. What I love most is how intricate the realm is, and how everything fits together. Your character can literally be anything he - or she! - wants, as long as it suits the overall fanstasy environment of the game. It's totally free to play, with a pay-for-perks system. The thing is, I know people who've achieved dragon-status (lvl 99+) and who own tons of artefacts (item perks) without having spent any real currency. With patience you can get the same perks just by playing the game, or you can even win them with certain monthly promotions. If you haven't ever played a MUD, or are looking for one where you can play your own real characters that make lasting impressions on the game, try it out! If Achaea isn't for you, Iron Realms has several other MUDs too!

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I can't think of any of the top of my head Aerowyn, but check www.topmudsites.com and www.mudconnect.com. I remember seeing a bunch of games with remort systems in their descriptions.

MUDCONNECT lol thats the one wow brought back some memories.. layout is nicer than I remember heh

I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg

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Sometimes, I still get nostalgic for my six years of Gemstone. I really loved the time I spent there and still think of the friends I made along the way. Hell, my current boss also played GS back in the day and we worked together back then and didn't even know it when we met at work.

Left the MUD world eight years ago for Internet Spaceships (it's serious business) and I still think about it. I tried a Gemstone reactivation trial a few years ago, but the only characters I had access to were minor characters and my main was nowhere to be found, probably purged even though all characters were on the same account and inactive for the same length of time. I was disappointed and left for good, but I always have my memories.

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I'm yet another devotee of Gemstone IV. I've been with the game in one form or another for over 10 consecutive years.

It is a different atmosphere than it was during its heydey... a natural side effect of the fragmentation of the online gaming market, but there are still things I can do in this game that I just can't in a graphical MMO.

You just can't beat the ability to truly be a part of the world's story. In most games, you have the same experiences as everyone else. In Gemstone (and many other MUDs) your experience is far more unique to the individual. We all have our own roles and perspectives an an ability to truly impact the world around us. It's interesting to look back and see that I'm actually pulling the puppet strings on a character who has really changed and grown -not just in level - but as a person in a big narrative over the past decade.